In the field of physics a need exists for high temperature plasmas of ions and electrons. Various means and appratus have been proposed and used for providing such plasmas comprising the toroidal research reactors at Princeton University referred to in the art as stellarators. Such torodial configurations are described and shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,278,384 by Leonard et at., entitled "Negative Stellarator"; 3,016,341 by Spitzer, Jr., entitled "Reactor"; 3,002,912 by Spitzer, Jr., entitled "High Temperature Apparatus". In an effort to achieve a hot dense plasma, several techniques have been employed. Furth et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,163 discloses a device for heating and compressing a plasma colum. Another method for heating a plasma is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,967 to Hamilton et at. in which a neutral particle beam is injected into the containment zone of a reactor vessel in order to heat the plasma and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,073 to Haught et al. in which a neutral particle beam is injected into a target plasma to maintain a high plasma temperature due to thermal collision between the ionized beam particles and the plasma. While these and the other torodal plasma research reactors used heretofore have been successful research reactors, they have had to meet the criteria of the well-known Lawson's minimum condition on n.sub.1 96 .sub.E, which is the product of the ion density n.sub.i and the plasma energy confinement time .tau..sub.E, in order to generate sufficient thermal power to recreate the electrical power invested in producing the plasma. A theoreticla dicussion of this Lawson criteria is provided in Proc. Phys. Soc., B (London 70, 6(1957)).
It is an object of this invention to operate a plasma reactor to provide a plasma of ions and electrons under conditions less restrictive than the above-metioned Lawson criteria.
It is another object to provide a two-component plasma.
It is another object to provide energy multiplication in a toroidal plasma column.
It is another object to produce fusion reactions in a toroidal plasma column by neutral beam injection.
It is another object to provide a two-component plasma in a stellarator and a tokamak.
It is another object to expand a plasma for the removal of theremal power therefrom.
It is another object to provide a plasma reactor for fissioning material in a blanket around a plasma column, or a blanket of fertile material such as Th.sup.232 for breeding fission fuel such as U.sup.233 which may be used in conventional nuclear reactors.
It is another object to provide a plasma-producing device that is capable of creating a hot, dense plasma suitable for high energy plasma research.
This invention is also useful for ionizing gases and solids and for producing light and other electromagnetic spectra from an ionized gas or plasma; it is useful for examining the properties, constituents and other features of high temperature gases or plasmas; it is useful for quality control purposes such as determining the impurities in pellets, jets and gases containing elements that are used in materials for tokamaks; it is useful for vaporizing a solid or for ionizing a gas in a short enough period of time to provide a quality control diagnostic, and it is useful for magnetically confining a plasma for a sufficient period of time to provide a quality control diagnostic.